1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates (a) to a method for producing three-dimensional facial features on a soft cloth doll, and (b) to the doll produced by the method. The method also has applicability for making three-dimensional features in cloth other than dolls.
2. The Prior Art
Soft cloth dolls have been made for centuries. Many methods have been developed to produce facial features. All construct the basic head by filling a spherical, ellipsoidal or other similar shaped head cavity made of cloth with a soft substance such as down or fabric. The methods fall within three categories.
a. Applique and Embedment: Both methods rely on stitching or adhering objects such as buttons, felt scraps, small stuffed and stitched bags, etc., directly on top of (in the case of applique) or embedding them under (in the case of embed) a seamless facial covering cloth. For example, some cloth dolls apply a button to the front surface. It is ornamental but artificial. This method has limited results because of the unnatural shape of the embedded or adhered object. Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 1,916,811 (1933) is an example of applique.
A variation uses pieces of polyester fiberfill and batting glued to a sheet of non-stretch muslin to form gross features (e.g., a forehead, nose, mouth and cheeks). The muslin and the soft material are covered by a sheet of stretch polyester, and the fiberfill and batting create gross features. Long stitches can also be pulled completely through the head to provide indentations for the eyes. Use of stitches extending through the head is disclosed in Sanders, U.S. Pat. No. 2,483,325 (1949) and Beach, U.S. Pat. No. 1,442,761 (1923). The faces are interesting, but the features are not sharp and lifelike because the materials used to form the features cannot be properly confined. Therefore, when the head cover is tightened, the features flatten.
(b) Needle Modeling: The head is also formed by filling with a soft material an approximately spherical or ellipsoidal enclosure of sheer material. The cloth is stitched and tucked into the filling material in such a way as to form three-dimensional features. This method is discussed in Foster, Foster Children Soft Sculpture Dolls, (1982). The effects can be lifelike, but the stitches are visible to the unaided eye and are aesthetic distractions. If the material is sheer, the head and face has little mechanical durability and can easily be damaged by rough handling. The features formed are less clearly defined if thicker materials are used.
(c) Trapunto: A feature such as an ear is formed by stitching an outline in front and rear cloth pieces, which also holds the cloth together. Material is stuffed within the outline between the front and rear pieces to form a protruding feature. The method is usually unsatisfactory because the stitches are visible.
(d) Seamed Heads and Faces: This method uses two or more pieces of pattern material, joined together by stitches to form the head cavity. In the center seamed face, a popular example of this method, a flat pattern is used for cutting two identical side profiles of the head. Each profile has a nose, chin, etc. The profiles are then stitched together with a seam running through the center of the face to create a head cavity, which is then filled with soft material. The seams, which appear directly on the surface of the face, are the main drawback in this system.
Each of the described methods can be used alone or in combination, but they all suffer from an inability to form clear, lifelike facial features without distracting stitches on the facial surface. Experts in the field have lamented these drawbacks.
There are some other methods which do not appear to have gained lasting acceptance and are not strictly soft cloth dolls. Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 144,373 (1873) produced facial features pressed from cloth saturated with glue. Wellington, U.S. Pat. No. 285,448 (1883) uses a wire frame inside of the head. Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 366,730 (1887) used waxed cloth as the base material. Other materials such as tar, paint, pressed felt and cardboard have also been used either to stiffen the material to form a harder mask or to create a mechanical foundation over which cloth is stretched. None are soft to the touch, and most are mechanically weak and require technical capabilities often not found in the home.
It is especially difficult to obtain a desirable doll face or head in a production setting. The hobbyist may not want her doll to look exactly like another hobbyist's doll, but manufacturing quality control requires repeatable results.